Port McNicoll Ontario - A historic steamship docked in West Michigan as a 45-year floating museum is getting closer to her third life as a fully restored residential and resort development tourist attraction in Canada.
 
The Canadian government allocated $480,000 toward the $1.1 million restoration of the S.S. Keewatin, an Edwardian-era steamship that left her berth in Douglas in 2012 to return to home port of Port McNicoll.
 
Skyline International Development bought the 108-year-old freight and passenger liner in 2011 and towed it from its 45-year dockside home on Kalamazoo Lake along the Blue Star Highway in Douglas, where it was a museum.
 
R.J. and Diane Peterson saved the ship, often referred to as being similar in purpose to the Titanic or other luxury liners, from being scrapped in 1967.
 
Built in Scotland and launched on 6 Jul 1907, the 350-foot vessel came to Canada in 1912 and today is considered the last Edwardian-era steamship left in the world.
 
The "Kee," as Canadians call her, was one of the luxury ships of the Canadian Pacific Railway that plied the Upper Great Lakes during the first half of the 20th century.
 
The ship left Douglas on 5 Jun 2012 to a sad farewell.
 
It's 18-day voyage through two Great Lakes was met with a huge flotilla and celebration on 23 Jun 2012 in Georgian Bay.
 
The Canada 150 fund money will fund dock dredging and pier improvements in Port McNicoll.
 
Canada will celebrate the 150-year anniversary of Confederation in 2017.
 
Skyline Development owns 12,000 acres in Port McNicoll along a deep-water port built by the Canadian Pacific Railway as a land and lake terminal for cargo and passenger service.
 
Skyline, a developer of destination resorts, plans to construct a $1 billion resort city at the site with hotels, waterfront homes, downtown condominiums, and shopping.
 
The Friends of the Keewatin group "want to do some more advanced renovations to help attract more visitors, but before they can do anything else, they've got to repair the pier, the dock area, that's next to the Keewatin," said Bruce Stanton, a Canadian Parliament member representing Ontario's Simcoe North district.
 
That work is expected to begin this fall.
 
Garret Ellison.